This invention relates to a system including an intraocular work light for use during vitreous surgery which provides a pathway for infusion of fluid into the eye during surgery.
The most widely accepted prior art means for performing intraocular surgery comprises a bimanual technique for irrigation, visualization, and suction cutting of intraocular membranes. This prior art technique provides two ports for instrument exchange, and for utilizing two instruments with optimum attitudinal approach to tissue, as well as illumination of structures. It is customary for the surgeon in carrying out this technique to hold a suction cutter in one hand, with a light in the other. A third separate device comprising an infusion port is required in order to maintain adequate flow of fluid into the eye to maintain intraocular volume during surgery.
Instruments have been described by T. A. Pool and R. D. Sudarsky, 88 American Journal of Opthalmology 1093-1095 (1979), and by S. M. Meyers, R. F. Bonner and S. B. Leighton, 100 Arch Opthalmology, April 1982, which combine the water infusion and light conducting elements in a single probe. Although such techniques eliminate the third portal for infusion, they have the disadvantage that the infusion volume is reduced by the physical limitations imposed by combining two conducting systems side by side while maintaining the small instrument size. This problem cannot be solved by increasing the intraocular illumination because of the danger of producing retinal change.
Furthermore, it has been found that ambient room light during vitreous surgery reduces the efficient utilization of intraocular illumination, and can prove to be distracting to the surgeon. The reduced level of ambient lighting which may be desirable for optimum performance by the eye surgeon, may be insufficient for the surgical assistants to function properly.
Another problem which may arise in the use of complex and multiple-element surgical tools is that of sterilization, which tends to increase the cost of the procedure by requiring that each element be resterilized or discarded after each use.